Reagan Street in West was a place where doors didn’t need to be locked, neighbors shared homegrown vegetables and friends took turns mowing each other’s lawns. It was where the town’s constable and justice of the peace lived.

Now, in the aftermath of the West fertilizer plant explosion, the homes on Reagan Street are empty. Though some have been spray-painted with messages of hope -- "God Bless West" -- the homes will soon be bulldozed. And only some who lived here will be coming back.

Here, home by home, are stories from Reagan Street and the night that changed the modest road forever.

Beulah Zahirniak’s home may not look as bad as some others on the block, but it will have to be bulldozed. Zahirniak and her husband, Willie, take solace in the fact that their ceramic and crystal angels were unharmed in the blast. So, too, was the Virgin Mary statue in the backyard. The Zahirniaks take that as a sign and believe God spared their lives because they care for their 9-year-old grandson, Coy. Together, the family plans to rebuild where their roots have been for 45 years -- 1111 N. Reagan St.

For Dorothy Zahirniak, home meant family. She lived next to her brother-in-law and down the street from her granddaughter. Now, she’ll have to move because she can’t afford to rebuild. The 83-year-old shudders when she talks about the blast -- the loud boom and the ceiling that collapsed on her frail frame. “I think about it now and I could just go to pieces,” she said. Zahirniak lost her husband four years ago and her son two years later. Now, this. “It just seems like it’s been one thing after the other,” she said.

West Intermediate School housed the district’s fourth and fifth graders. Classes weren’t in session at the time of the blast, but the building suffered fire, water and structural damage. West ISD superintendent Marty Crawford called it a “total loss.” He said the district doesn’t plan to build a new intermediate school. Instead, it will build a new middle school and high school -- both also damaged in the blast -- and funnel the fourth and fifth graders into those. The new buildings should be finished by 2015.

J & B Realty, LTD owns the 22-unit West Terrace Apartments that took the brunt of the blast. The explosion ripped the roofs and walls off the second floor and crushed residents’ cars. Two people died and several others -- including children -- were injured, said Sarah Gardner, whose grandmother owns the family business. Gardner said the apartment complex brought in the majority of the profits and her family plans to rebuild at some point. Residents who lived there, however, have had to find housing elsewhere. And unlike homeowners, they are unable to retrieve their personal property -- it’s all destroyed.

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1400 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $81,938
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

Separated from the plant by only a playground, the home where Isaac Rivera lived with his sister and young nephew was in the blast’s direct path. In the chaos, Rivera said a concrete slab hit him, breaking his leg. On a recent evening, he leaned on his uncle’s silver pick-up and gazed at the damage. He was there to look for his ID and wallet -- but no luck. “We need a lot of things … to start a new life,” he said.

1401 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $143,447
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1402 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $95,951
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

Outside Amber Zahirniak’s lopsided home, a pink rocking chair and other toys litter the yard. She and her children can’t go home, so the toys have remained out of place since the blast tore through their house. The single mother has tried to be a stable presence for her two kids while working full-time, applying for federal aid and dealing with insurance. Still, her toddler daughter has been acting up a daycare and her 10-year-old son is anxious that they’ll run out of money. She has fews answers for them. “It’s unbelievable. It’s indescribable. It’s hell,” the 33-year-old said.

Listen to Amber Zahirniak

1403 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $124,350
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1404 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $136,563
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1405 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $114,181
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1406 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $127,763
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

Greg Mitchell had little reason to celebrate his 46th birthday. He spent the day dealing with the aftermath of the blast, which damaged his mother’s home, where he and his son also lived. The house is totaled, but the family is safe. So is their Rat Terrier Chihuahua mix, Tiger, and their cat, Shiner Bob, though the cat has to have part of his tail amputated. When Mitchell looks at the home, now, he focuses on the unscathed mailbox. “That’s the only thing I own. That’s the only thing that I got left,” he said.

Listen to Greg Mitchell

1407 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $144,553
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1408 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $124,071
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1409 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $125,558
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

Rick Wolf had been meaning to sell his land on the outskirts of town. There was no use for it since he and his wife were happy in their home. But Wolf, 49, is now relieved he waited so long to sell. He’ll need that land to build a house since his was destroyed in the blast. Though he had insurance, Wolf said the financial unknowns of rebuilding are terrifying. He used to be able to predict his expenses. Now, “it’s kind of a mystery ... everybody’s going to be out of their comfort zone.”

Listen to Rick Wolf

1410 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $128,195
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1411 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $112,115
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

MONA REEDER/The Dallas Morning News

1412 N. Reagan St.

2012 Appraisal value: $140,374
Damage level: 100%
Status: Unsafe

Cindy Grones, 52, was affected by the explosion in almost every way. Her older daughter, a paramedic, broke her leg responding to the blast. Her husband’s cousin, Buck Uptmor, died trying to herd horses away from the fire. And her family lost their home. She will miss Uptmor, and she will miss her living room, her favorite part of the house. It was where her teenage children used to wrestle, play Wii and have sleepovers with friends. Now, it’s covered in pink insulation and glass.

Larry Kaska, 64, lived five houses down from his daughter and grandchildren. They’re even closer now. Both families lost their homes and are living together in an empty house a relative planned to sell. Being close to family, he said, may be one of the few upsides to the situation. Kaska was able to save his wife’s engagement photo and his children’s baby photos, but the home he bought new in 1980 is a goner. Kaksa plans to build a new house where the destroyed one stands so he can regain a secure haven, a place he can call “home.”

Since the explosion destroyed her home, Katherine Maler has been relying on the kindness of strangers -- and there’s no shortage of it. “I have yet to cook a meal,” Maler, 55, said. Coworkers bought the nurse new scrubs to wear to work. And she’s been wearing her friend’s mother-in-law’s housecoat as pajamas. Maler and her friend joke that the rainbow-striped housecoat is like the jeans in the book, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The “healing housecoat” also gets passed around wherever it’s needed. “It’s just a great big hug,” Maler said.

Raymond Kolar, 54, was a lawn fanatic. He often dropped by West Fertilizer Co. to pick up fertilizer to cultivate his yard and garden. Now, he no longer has a yard to work on because the yellow-brick house where he and his family have lived since 1988 has to be demolished. But with their home totaled, the Kolars took advantage and used it as a canvas to spread messages of hope.

David Woodard thought his home was far enough away to survive the blast. He was wrong. The head football coach at West High School will have to bulldoze his home -- something he wants to do soon. The sooner he bulldozes, the sooner he can rebuild on the land and provide a permanent home for his wife and two children. Woodard said the lessons of athletics -- victories and defeats -- translate into life’s hardships. “This is a defeat,” he said. “You gotta pick yourself up and recover from it.”

Listen to David Woodard

Reporting by Sarah Mervosh
Photography by Mona Reeder and Sarah Mervosh
Design and Interactives by Layne Smith and Troy Oxford